Christmas in July

A patronizing movie about Britain’s greatest post-war prime minister which is only interested in her mental and physical decay and not at all in her achievements

I tried very hard to like Henry Fool by Hal Hartley and was intermittently successful, but I found it in the end unsatisfying. The film tells the story of two friends, the rogue Henry Fool (“there used to be an ‘e’ on the end of it in the 17th century, but it dropped off”), played…

[See “Entry from July 30, 2008” under “My Diary”] Discover more from James Bowman Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email. Type your email… Subscribe

The best moment in the new movie-version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by Michael Hoffman, comes as Bottom (Kevin Kline) in the form of an ass is transported to the bower of Titania, the Fairy Queen (Michelle Pfeiffer), who has fallen in love with him (as the Shakespeareans among you will remember) because of…

Anyone who has ever had anything to do with schizophrenia will tell you that there is nothing attractive or heroic or artistic about it, but the romantic myth that there is dies hard. The talented Samuel L. Jackson is the latest star prepared to take on the role of holy madman in The Caveman’s Valentine,…

Wild Man Blues by Barbara Kopple is a documentary about Woody Allen and a pickup band and their tour of Europe to play New Orleans jazz. The deal must have been for Barbara to come along and get lots of shots of Woody and Soon-Yi, suitable for tabloid TV, in exchange for making Woody look…